MESSIAH'S REIGN

RISE, crowned with light, imperial Salem, rise!

Exalt thy towering head, and lift thine eyes;
See heaven its sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee in a flood of day.

See a long race thy spacious courts adorn;
See future sons and daughters yet unborn
In crowding ranks on every side arise,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies.

See barbarous nations at thy gates attend,
Walk in the light, and in thy temple bend;
See thy bright altars thronged with prostrate kings,
While every land its joyful tribute brings.

The seas shall waste, the skies to smoke decay,
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away;
But fixed his word, his saving power remains ;
Thy realms shall last, thy own Messiah reigns!

THIS hymn, one of the notable inclusions of the new Methodist hymnal, is a good representative of the new type of songs of service, laying its emphasis on the concrete and the objective and active in religion. Its author is a Methodist Episcopal clergyman who was born in New York, Dec. 3, 1850, and who is now engaged in church executive and editorial work. He is the writer of other hymns.

THE SERVICE OF MAN

WHERE cross the crowded ways of life,

Where sound the cries of race and clan, Above the noise of selfish strife,

We hear thy voice, O Son of Man!

In haunts of wretchedness and need,

On shadowed thresholds dark with fears, From paths where hide the lures of greed, We catch the vision of thy tears.

From tender childhood's helplessness,

From woman's grief, man's burdened toil, From famished souls, from sorrow's stress, Thy heart has never known recoil.

The cup of water given for thee,
Still holds the freshness of thy grace;

Yet long these multitudes to see
The sweet compassion of thy face.

O Master, from the mountain side,
Make haste to heal these hearts of pain,
Among these restless throngs abide,
O, tread the city's streets again,

Till sons of men shall learn thy love
And follow where thy feet have trod;
Till glorious from thy heaven above
Shall come the city of our God.

FRANK MASON NORTH

EVEN a brief anthology of English hymns would of necessity contain several written by the talented and devoted bishop of Calcutta. In his brief but intense ministry of nineteen years he accomplished much good, in England, in the country village where he was first rector, and afterwards in London, and also in India. This hymn was written while he was rector at Hodney, about 1811. While it is intended for the first week of the new year, to celebrate the coming of the Magi to the infant Savior, it is used and greatly enjoyed by congregations everywhere at all seasons.

"STAR OF THE EAST"

BRIGHTEST and best of the sons of the

morning!

Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid; Star of the east, the horizon adorning,

Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.

Cold on his cradle the dewdrops are shining, Low lies his head with the beasts of the stall; Angels adore him, in slumber reclining,

Maker, and Monarch, and Savior of all!

Say shall we yield him, in costly devotion,
Odors of Edom and offerings divine?
Gems of the mountain and pearls of the ocean,
Myrrh from the forest and gold from the mine?

Vainly we offer each ample oblation,
Vainly with gifts would his favor secure ;
Richer by far is the heart's adoration;
Dearer to God are the prayers of the

poor.

Brightest and best of the sons of the morning! Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid;

Star of the east, the horizon adorning,

Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.

BISHOP REGINALD HEBER